Step-Brothers: Blood Doesn't Tie Us
by writing1swat
Summary: Sam didn't want a new mom or brother but couldn't deny his dad happiness. With drama and problems, the Winchesters must learn to get along. Sam/Dean later; het, slash, incest, etc WIP/On hold for now
1. Step Brothers

_i like wincest pairing, i won't lie. i also like mary/john canon and hate when people make them into giant assholes._

Title**: ****Step-Brothers****: ****Blood Doesn't Tie Us**

Genres**: **Family / Friendship / Drama

Rating**: **T

Summary**: Sam didn't want a new mom or brother but couldn't deny his dad happiness. With drama and problems, the Winchesters must learn to get along. Sam/Dean later**

Warnings**: **Sam/Dean, Mary/John, het pairings, slash pairings, incest, cursing, Sam/others, Dean/others, homophobia, no hunting AU, family drama, epic length

* * *

**2011**

It was one of those odd, chilly days in August. Sam was sitting at his computer writing an email to a friend he hasn't seen since last year in middle school. He was nervous about going to high school a year early and was trying to explain it to Mike as best he could. Mike was already fourteen and was tall and lanky like how a teen should be. He claimed on graduation day last year he wasn't scared at the aspect of moving a grade up and Sam knew, a logical part of him somewhere in the far recesses of his mind knew, Mike was right not to be. High school should be exciting; a fresh new beginning, new people, including teachers, to befriend. But in a way, Sam still felt like a kid pretending to be a teen. He wasn't sure he'd fit in. He typed that in.

After a few more minutes of furious typing, he leaned back and reread the email in satisfaction before hitting 'send'. The time on the computer screen made him do a double take. It was 5:53 pm. But that couldn't be right unless his dad decided to be late again today. John Winchester was a police officer and sometimes his job took him overtime. But he promised he'd make it home early today. Today was a special day because Sam was finally going to meet his dad's new love interest. Sam felt disappointment rise in his gut at the thought that his dad might've cancelled the dinner. It wasn't really like Sam cared all that much who John was seeing as long as the woman made him happy.

John had been talking nonstop about this woman named Mary Campbell after all and usually Sam had never seen his dad make it through the first date with someone since mom–Sam's real mom–had gone. It made Sam a little intrigued who could possibly have affected his dad so deeply. John was pretty well known as a workaholic in these parts of Lawrence. Plus, if Sam remembered right from one of the many conversations that revolved around Mary, she had a son the same age as Sam. Although Sam had always kept mostly to himself when he was at home, he found himself wondering what Mary's son was like.

Was he shy or dorky? Or maybe he was outgoing and energetic? Was he smart like Sam? What did he like to eat? What was his favorite color? What was his favorite subject at school? Did he have a lot of friends?

Sam paused in his thoughts when he heard the doorbell echo through the house and knew immediately his dad didn't cancel the dinner date, he was just late, caught up in a bunch of paperwork and probably driving as fast as the speed limit allowed to get home. Sam would have to play the nice host until then, perhaps stall a bit with easy conversation. He took a deep breath before shoving off the chair. He could do that. He made his way down the stairs, thinking it'd actually been a good idea to heat up the pizza ahead of time in the oven. It wasn't a secret that Sam did most of the cooking in the Winchester household because John just couldn't. And even then Sam wasn't at all an expert in the world of cooking.

He heard the doorbell ring again and as he approached the door, he heard muffled voices on the other side, one distinctly male and the other female. At this point he was a hundred percent certain it was Mary Campbell and her son, Dean. His hands suddenly became sweaty at the idea of meeting them and setting off a good impression for his dad. He wished John would just hurry the hell up, speeding ticket be damned. Sam opened the door with little hesitance to see Mary and Dean stare right back at him, the former plastered with a kindly smile on her face while her son rocked on his heels looking slightly bored, like he didn't really want to be here but was enduring it for family. That was how Sam had felt earlier thinking about the idea, except he'd been at least a little bit curious too. His breath hitched a little as he stared at the boy, Mary's son.

Dean looked like a model, really. He had dark hair that looked dyed. Sam was almost positive his natural hair color was like his mother's, all long and dirty blonde that reminded Sam of an angel. It was short and spiked with loads of hair gel that Sam wondered why the goop wasn't running down in his face in streams. His green eyes stood out against the white of his skin and he noticed the splotches of freckles covering his nose. He wore an old beaten red leather jacket over a plain white tee shirt and blue cargo pants. There was a sudden cough that drew Sam away from his obvious staring with a flush on his cheeks.

"Hi, Sam. John told me a lot about you. He's been expecting us tonight. Can we come in?" Mary asked with a tinge of amusement in her voice that made Sam flush harder, like she just caught him red handed with his hand in a cookie jar.

He nodded, wavering in his spot, not trusting his voice to talk before stepping to one side and opening the door wider in invitation. Mary smiled her thanks as she moved inside and took her shoes off by the doorway. Sam hoped Dean wouldn't say anything to make matters worse, but judging from the crooked grin he was sporting, Sam knew his luck wasn't going to work that way at all tonight. He walked inside with deliberate long strides and as he passed Sam, he let his jacket brush against Sam's sleeve.

Sam gaped at him as he continued his way to the couch in the living room, flopping down and picking the remote up to channel surf like he lived here all along. A moment, which felt like an eternity, later Sam was still pressed against the door when he heard the familiar rumbling of his dad's car pull into the driveway. His heart which had picked up speed just a few moments ago started to slow as he watched John get out of the car and make his way to the house. He looked at Sam, confusion on his face before he noticed Mary coming to stand behind Sam, her hands gently touching his shoulders like she would her own son. He grinned and waved at her before pulling her down into a quick hug and kiss.

Sam turned to the other room and caught Dean's smirk. He groaned inwardly at the memory of what had just happened earlier. This was so not the impression he wanted to give to his dad's potential girlfriend's son.

* * *

**A few months later**

It was love at first sight. Dean personally didn't believe in that and if he didn't see it with his own eyes, he'd forever deny its existence, but what else could anyone call what it was that Mary and John had? He'd never ever seen his mom like this. She was head over heels for the dude and it was grating on his nerves to be honest. Dean couldn't see what she saw in John Winchester. He didn't understand what it was about him that made him oh so special to take his mom's heart right out of her chest without having to really do anything at _all_. Seriously. The guy was a klutz. He was a bumbling idiot that couldn't seem to get out the right words and would have to apologize all the time. While mom thought that was an endearing quality, Dean couldn't stand for it. The guy couldn't even cook. Whenever Dean was dragged to one of those dumb dinner dates of theirs, they had either take-out or Sam's cooking, and even Sam could barely cook any better than his old man.

And that right there was another thing, Sam. Sam was John's son. A runt kid that thought he was the top of the world. He was short and a few months younger than Dean and was in the same grade. He was Dean's friend and rival since they met. Much to Dean's surprise, they shared a lot of common interests and as much he hated to admit, while his initial impression of the kid wasn't all that great, Dean couldn't help but like him. He was quiet like Dean, kept to himself whenever he could but helped his dad like Dean helped his mom. He didn't complain once about doing chores whenever Dean was around and sometimes Dean found himself helping like washing the dishes after dinner, then they'd go upstairs and play some videogames on Sam's computer until Dean either had to go home or became bored. It was fun for a while.

It took a few weeks for the two to really call each other friends though. And then came September and school started back up. Dean had no problem with going to high school even if he was going to be younger than most people and besides, Sam was younger than him. He found out a few days before school actually began that Sam was nervous as hell. He fidgeted in his chair when Dean asked him what kind of book-bag he'd bought for school and what classes he hoped he'd get.

"You're all nerves man," he exclaimed from the bed he'd been lying on.

Sam straightened at once and if Dean didn't already see the nervous shakes and jitters, he never would've guessed Sam had a problem to begin with. But as it stood, Dean didn't miss a thing. And he wasn't going to let it go just because Sam felt uncomfortable. In fact this just made him all the more determined to be Sam's friend. It was known that bullies were in a lot of schools, not just high school but it was more common there because people migrated from pretty much everywhere and Sam was small and young, he made an easy target to insecure pricks. OK so Dean wasn't that much older or bigger but at least he took a few classes of Tae Kwon Do to indulge him a little over the summer.

"I am not," Sam denied instantly, which caused Dean to roll his eyes because he totally called that. "Seriously, Dean. I _can't_ wait for school. Mike said he already got his schedule 'cos his mom's a teacher there and he's taking Trig and next year he gets to take Pre Calculus."

Dean made a small noise under his breath, impressed that one of Sam's friends was that smart. By junior year Mike would be taking college Calculus and Statistics. "That's pretty cool," he said honestly.

For the rest of the day they exchanged what kind of classes they'd want to end up with on their schedules. Then Sam, albeit reluctantly, took out his new lunchbox and book-bag to show Dean and Dean couldn't hold back his excitement and grin as he took in the batman logo stitched in the middle. What could he say? Sam clearly had great taste.

It wasn't until the middle of September that the real problems started. His mom and Sam's dad, John, were very much in love still and one Saturday night dinner date, he gave Mary a ring. They were officially engaged. While Dean didn't have much problem with it, was even happy for his mom, Sam rose from his chair with a loud clatter and everyone turned to look at him in surprise. He didn't say a word as he rushed up to his room and slammed the door. Dinner that consisted of Chinese take-out was promptly forgotten.

And ever since then friendship became nothing but a rivalry. Dean could barely even remember the reason why he wanted to be friends with the little jackass aside from the obvious. Every time he got a test paper back, Sam would glance over and then show his which would normally always be a little bit higher. If Dean got an eighty-eight, Sam got a ninety-two. If Dean got a hundred, Sam would say there were a couple bonus questions on the back and Dean would slump back in his seat as he took in the one hundred ten on Sam's test. It was annoying and infuriating at the same time.

Then in the middle of January, Mary and John got married and Dean and Sam became step brothers.

* * *

ONE

**October 2012**

Sam sighed as he entered the house with Michael in tow. He had an assigned project in history class to do in less than a week and Sam and Michael were partnered up for this. It wasn't that Sam didn't like Michael; in fact it was just the opposite. Mike had been Sam's best friend since middle school. But of all the people to be paired with…he just wished his friend took the class seriously. Sure Mike was an absolute genius with numbers, but the blonde never cared too much for reading. Half the time Sam looked behind him, he'd see Mike with a book opened pretending to read but was actually dead asleep. No one caught him though because he didn't snore and seemed to know when Mr. Connor was doing his little runs around the classroom.

And somehow, he managed to get passing scores on tests. Mike grinned and stretched out on the couch after he took off his shoes and book-bag. Sam watched in exasperation as his friend flipped from channel to channel before landing on some cartoons. It was only slightly annoying to see his friend making himself at home without waiting for Sam to tell him to. Sam felt his heart flutter a little as he compared the sight now to when he and Dean just met each other a year ago. Speaking of his step brother, he could hear some movements upstairs and rolled his eyes, knowing full well what Dean was doing.

He pushed his hair back and grabbed his friend's bag that was heavy with textbooks and papers and pens. He never really understood Mike's need to carry everything with him. Lockers were there for a reason. But as he came to realize last year, there were a lot more people that didn't bother to use lockers than he initially thought.

"C'mon, Mike. Let's go to my room," he said taking the remote away and shutting the TV off with the press of a button. Mike grumbled but hopped off the couch anyway.

They trudged up the stairs like reluctant soldiers on the way to the battlefield–Sam felt a little silly at the comparison but it was what it was. He saw Dean's tousled dark hair before they even made it half way. It was darker than usual today, bordering black. Sam remembered thinking that Dean's natural hair color was definitely blond like Mary's but it was getting harder to tell now because Dean always seemed to have a new hair color every other week. It was kind of strange. Sometimes it made Sam think of a girl trying all these new clothes, only this was his step brother trying all the colors of rainbow on his _hair_. Not once, though, did Dean ever turn his hair blond, at least not yet.

There was suddenly a moan and Sam froze in his tracks, Mike bumping into him a little but equally as tense. He shifted uncomfortably and peered back at his friend noticing that Mike had gone pretty quiet. Another low moan had Sam moving again, annoyance taking over the initial shock. Of course Dean just had to take his latest conquest _home_, in the hallway where anyone including dad and Mary could see them; including Sam and any one of his friends he wanted to have come over.

He fully intended to lecture his brother in front of his new girlfriend when he reached the top and he took in the sight before him with shock, the words dying instantly in his mouth. Sam gaped at his brother pressed up against a moaning _male _body. Dean looked up from nibbling down the teen's neck to smirk at Sam, taking in his surprise for a few moments before pale, muscular arms pulled his attention back to his current task. Then before Sam could say or do anything, Dean started to grind against the guy and the little sounds like whimpers and groans and moans ramped up a notch and filled the house like a porn movie. Sam couldn't take it, finally pulling his eyes away, dazed from the sight. He cleared his throat and scrunched his nose, tugging Mike to his bedroom without as much as a backwards glance. So what if Dean was gay and Sam had no idea until now. He had a damn project to work on.

Mike groaned for the umpteenth time as he lay on Sam's bed. It had been an hour since they came home and they could still hear Dean and that guy's activities from outside even though Sam had shut and locked his door ages ago. They still had to research some presidents then compare the accomplishments of each one and Sam hasn't moved from where he sat at his desk, his hands covering his ears in a vain hope to shut out the absurd noises his brother was making. He was really close to telling Dean to go somewhere else and not come back until he was at least a little bit more tolerable to deal with again but he already tried that half an hour ago and got nothing but condescension for his efforts.

"Just pick a president already," Mike suddenly snapped as he fixed a glare up to Sam's fan. He ran a hand through his hair in frustration as another grunt came through the closed door. "If I have to listen to anymore of this, and I'm really sorry Sam, but I'm out. Call me tomorrow if your bro ain't here." Sam watched silently as his friend got up to his feet, glancing briefly over to him and then to the door.

It wasn't like Sam could blame him. "Alright, I guess I'll see you tomorrow at school," he said reluctantly, then thought to add, "I'm sorry."

Mike nodded an apology in his dark blue eyes. He pursed his lips. "Yeah me too." Sam didn't bother to watch as Mike headed out sullenly, his book-bag hanging crookedly over one shoulder. After a few minutes he heard the front door open and closed shut. His heart pounded in his chest as he snuck a glance past his door to see if Dean noticed anything. Dean was pressed against the wall now, groaning, but his eyes weren't shut with pleasure. They were wide open and completely focused on Sam. He grinned knowingly at him. Sam slammed the door finally realizing his step brother was doing all this on purpose.

Dinner came and went in a blur. Mary cooked lasagna tonight and while her cooking was always good, Sam just wasn't in the mood. Dad talked about work which was boring unless he had a case. He didn't today. And Dean…he was quiet. All he did was move his food around on his plate with his fork. Somehow no one said anything about how he shouldn't be doing that. Sam was about to lecture him but remembered how Dean made Mike leave early today and he stopped himself when he opened his mouth. If Dean didn't care, why should he?

He excused himself to the kitchen after taking a few bites from his own plate. Washing the dishes had always been a favorite pastime to Sam because it allowed him to think without interruption. Sam already had the water running when he heard footsteps behind him. Then more plates and glasses dropped into the sink and Sam turned to stare at Dean expectantly.

"What do you want, Dean?"

Dean shrugged and pulled out a sponge and dishwashing soap in the cabinet under the sink. "Mom and John are being boring so I figured I'd help you here."

"Thanks but no thanks," Sam snapped and snatched the sponge and soap from his step brother's startled hands.

"Well, geez, no need to be such a bitch. If you didn't want my help, you could've just said so like a normal human being," Dean said, leaning away as if Sam had some kind of contagious disease. The reaction only annoyed him further.

"I'm not being a bitch. You were acting like a jerk earlier anyway." He turned around and started to clean the plates.

"Me? How?"

Sam couldn't believe it. "What do you mean 'how'?" he asked incredulously. "You were deliberately trying to make Mike leave so he couldn't help me with my project today."

"Oh that. I didn't just 'try', I _succeeded_," Dean said matter-of-factly.

"Seriously? You really did that_ intentionally_?" It felt stupid when it left his mouth but he couldn't take it back now. Sam wasn't sure at first what Dean's intentions were. He figured that Dean was just trying to get laid, not that he ever had a problem with his sex life. But when he saw his step brother's face earlier, Sam guessed the actual intention was to annoy the fuck out of Sam and his friend. He never thought the guess would've been spot on. Sure Dean could be a prick when he wanted to be, but usually he held off.

Dean shrugged; looking like the conversation was boring him now. "I've got a project too, 'member, Sammy?"

Sam turned to look at his brother hotly. "You scared away my partner so you stood a better chance to getting a better score than me?" He saw the flush on Dean's cheeks and wanted to smack him. "This was about_ rivalry_?"

Now Dean glowered at him, cheeks coloring even more. "No! Not all of it," he hissed, getting in Sam's face. "Not everything has to do with you and beating you, OK?" Before Sam could get another word in, Dean huffed and stomped out of the kitchen. He wondered all night what the hell that was all about. And more importantly, how could he possibly have missed the fact that Dean wasn't even straight? Not that it was really any of his business, the fact that he hasn't noticed was just a little unsettling in his stomach.


	2. Niches

Title**: ****Step-Brothers****: ****Blood Doesn't Tie Us**

Genres**: **Family / Friendship / Drama

Rating**: **T

Summary**: Sam didn't want a new mom or brother but couldn't deny his dad happiness. With drama and problems, the Winchesters must learn to get along. Sam/Dean later**

Warnings**: **Sam/Dean, Mary/John, het pairings, slash pairings, incest, cursing, Sam/others, Dean/others, homophobia, no hunting AU, family drama, epic length

* * *

TWO

Maddie was looking at him all through Art class today. Dean wasn't so busy with working on his sketch to not notice the way her lashes fluttered over lush, green eyes. She saw him gazing back at her and raised an eyebrow high behind her bangs, her face expectant, her lean relaxed and sure. Dean was certain she expected he'd just get up and walk over to her like all the other jocks that she seemed to have wrapped around her pinky, but all he did was raise his eyebrow back at her, a crooked little grin plastered to his face. For a moment they held each other's stare. Then Maddie huffed, her face looking offended as she gave a slight toss of her shoulders and took out a small compact mirror from her purse. Dean rolled his eyes and got back to his drawing. They'd talk later after class, maybe at lunch.

He was right. When the lunch bell sounded, Maddie was already making her way to him just as he reached his locker. He paused for a brief moment, fingers hovering over the locker combo. "Sup, Maddie," he said as he turned the combo and jerked the handle to open his locker in one fluid movement.

"Don't 'sup' me, Winchester. You purposely ignored me today."

"Dunno what you're talkin' bout," Dean mumbled.

Maddie let out a soft sigh and leaned up against him. He could feel the heat of her body as she pressed in close and tried not to jerk back in response. He still wasn't used to girls like Madison Green–all pretty, popular and _older_–paying a lick of attention to him. "You know you want me," she said, a nimble finger playing up his arm. "You've wanted me ever since you first laid eyes on me. Don't deny it." He could smell her perfume coming from her skin, the conditioner in her hair, like flowers in the summer. He tried to stop his breath from stuttering but with the way she ran her fingers lovingly up and down his skin he knew he failed and was slowly falling for her seduction. "It's OK, Dean. I want you too."

If Sam thought Dean was a player, he really never witnessed Madison Green in action.

Dean hung out with the 'in' crowd. Despite popular belief, not everyone in the group were jocks and cheerleaders. In fact Dean found a lot of the stereotype to be untrue.

Madison Green was a part of the flock of course, clinging to Dean like he was her favorite teddy bear, and despite what people gossiped about her, she was actually clever and smart when she wanted to be. Everyone always assumed because she was a blonde, she'd act like a typical blonde and he supposed it didn't help that she was a cheerleader. He knew all about the hundreds of movies out there that made fun of blondes and cheerleaders and football quarterbacks. But most of that stuff was made up for entertainment. The only thing that seemed to be typical of Maddie was how she was really good at seducing men; then again maybe that was just the power of _all_ women.

There were five people not including Dean that made up the group, or as Dean liked to refer to as 'Dan's Group' because really that was what it was. Daniel Carter. He was the typical hot senior that had girls falling down and swooning. If Dean had been strictly gay, he'd probably be drooling. But he wasn't so he didn't. The difference between Daniel and most the other guys was the fact that he wasn't a jock. He didn't play any sport but he could if he wanted to probably. He had dirty blond hair that went down to his shoulders, sometimes pulled back in a ponytail.

Steely blue eyes hid behind black framed glasses. Most days, however, he wore clear contacts. He had a muscular physique underneath a black, turtle neck sweater that Dean would kill for, and wore tight denim jeans that clung to his ass. Despite dressing like a geek, he had a certain charm to him that Dean couldn't deny even when he wanted to. He was anything but a geek though. Dean could attest firmly to that because despite the guy's high GPA, he definitely loved women and wasn't shy on getting what he wanted.

Lunch rolled by slowly. Dean and Maddie were waiting at their usual table by the double doors. High school food wasn't so bad. Dean decided a long time ago that school food could've been a lot worse and continued going into lunch lines even when Mary taught him to cook properly. It was easier that way and it passed time. He picked at the mash potatoes and green beans that'd been piled on his tray. He felt Maddie's gaze. It felt a little awkward and he gripped his fork a little more tightly.

He couldn't deny she was cute because she was and she knew it too, knew that he knew it. Last year she wouldn't give him the time of day. This year was different and he knew why. A faint 'thud' snapped his attention to his right. "Oh look who finally decided to show his ugly mug," Maddie drawled, twirling her fork into the spaghetti.

Eliot scowled, dark eyes narrowed. Of course he wasn't that ugly. Dean was sure if he was he wouldn't be allowed to hang out with them. Though most of the rumors about them weren't true, he had to admit they were a bit shallow on appearances. But so were most people.

Eliot was a baseball player. He was sort of short but not shorter than Dean. If Dean had to guess, he'd estimate that the junior was only an inch or two taller. Dean stood at 5'5 last he checked but then again, he was only fourteen and still had a lot of growing left to do. Eliot sighed and brushed a couple strands of hair from his eyes. He sat down heavily next to Dean but didn't bother to toss him a greeting, too busy shaking his milk and shoving a straw in it.

"At least I'm prettier than you," he sneered, half-joking. It was only half-joking because everyone knew that was untrue. But on some level Dean thought Eliot actually meant it because he was a bit of a narcissistic freak.

Maddie made a small huffing sound, but not looking at Eliot. Instead she was staring at Dean making him shift uncomfortably in his seat, trying hard not to full out squirm. "Hey, babe, c'mere, give me a kiss," she paused, puckered her lips as Dean froze, "The little freak made me all self-conscious–just a peck on the cheek. Babe, please?"

Before Dean could respond, Eliot was laughing, his eyes darting from Maddie's seductive expression to Dean's 'deer caught in headlights' one. "So Maddie's finally got you on a leash too?" Dean couldn't stop the grunted 'oof' as Eliot thumped his back. He leaned down and mock-whispered, "Good luck with her; she's a tiger–get lots of condoms and candlesticks." At Dean's confused look, "She's a sap for dinner dates and despite her being a blonde, she doesn't put out on her first date. But I can guarantee you; she's definitely a good lay–Oww! What the hell, Maddie!"

"What the hell would you know if I was a good lay or not–you never got close to doing me," Maddie hissed, hand still poised in the air from the smack. Dean wasn't sure to laugh or excuse himself so he could make a run for it. He was still frozen on the fact that Eliot assumed they were going out and Madison was making it look like they were an item. He didn't want to look inexperienced but that was pretty much what he was and by the looks of it, Eliot knew it.

"That's because you never put out and I couldn't take all the lovey-dovey crap," Eliot complained. "I'm just trying to help my good friend here–you can understand that, right, Maddie?"

Dean started to stutter as Eliot leaned closer. Maddie smacked him upside the head again. "Quit scaring my babe! Geezus, Eliot, you're such a freak."

That seemed to quiet Eliot a bit for the rest of lunch.

* * *

Last period couldn't come fast enough for Sam. While Dean liked to hang with older crowds now, Sam liked just having two close friends. In this case their names were Mike Kingsley and Neil Summer. Neil was originally Mike's best friend from Texas, but when he heard Neil's mom got a job here in Lawrence, Kansas and was going to attend Lawrence High School for sophomore year, he couldn't wait to introduce him. Neil and Sam hit it off from the start.

Neil had a younger sister still in elementary school and liked nothing more than to torment his older brother. Sam had laughed when he finally shared the reason behind his reluctance to show Sam his house. It just seemed natural for the younger sibling to annoy the older. Still, Neil didn't want to give Shel–Shelby–more ammunition.

He learned that Neil was only shy and slightly awkward meeting new people. When he and Sam became closer, Neil was outgoing and friendly and had a penchant for sarcasm. He sort of reminded him of Dean, except he wasn't interested in girls–though from that one display Sam saw, he had to wonder if he had his step brother all wrong after all.

Last period was one of Sam's favorite, it was P.E. He met up with Neil and Mike by the boys' locker room. It was annoying that they had to dress in uniform when it was a public school but he supposed the school district didn't want random, angry complaints about how new clothes came back torn and dirty every day. It was just a hassle in Sam's opinion.

"Oh thank God, I caught up with you," Neil said, leaning against the doorframe. He shifted his bag. "I wanted to make sure you guys knew I'm going to be hosting a Halloween party this year." Sam made to respond but Neil quickly cut him off, looking away for a moment, "It's gonna be at my house–hitch a ride with Mike here, his dad knows where I live. And uhm, Sam, you can come with your…step brother if you want–Dean, right? But just, ah, you and him. Make sure to tell him that if he's, you know, interested. OK?"

Sam looked back at Mike. Neil was acting strange and it didn't go unnoticed to both boys. Mike gave him a helpless shrug before Sam nodded, despite feeling a little light-headed. Neil visibly relaxed and smiled. The rest of the day went by in a blur for Sam. Neil continued to act all weird and Sam kept catching him looking at his step brother.

P.E. was one of the many classes Sam and Dean shared together, but since Dean liked to hang out with juniors and seniors, he always noticed Dean would be standing by himself or slouched in a far off corner. Even when he sat in the front surrounded by peers his own age, Dean made it look like he was still alone. It was weird and Sam wasn't sure how his step brother could always somehow pull off the 'lonely prince' look.

September came and went and Sam didn't really remember too much about it. Dean was still seeing this blonde guy that looked way too old to be dating a fourteen year old. In early October, Sam finally got a name. Dean said his name was Daniel Carter and then went into mocking him for not knowing who he was. Of course Sam heard of Daniel Carter–he was pretty sure everyone in the entire school knew him.

Daniel was a senior, just turned eighteen a few weeks ago. He had a perfect 4.0 GPA and already applied for Yale and got his acceptance letter early. He didn't play sports but Sam saw the toned muscled abs a dozen times by now that he knew with certainty the guy worked out regularly. Sam was still annoyed to see him prancing around the house like he owned the place no matter how many times Dean told him he should be honored to have a sex god like Daniel in the house three days a week. Sam wasn't honored though, and he told that to Dean who just responded with a simple, "Suck it up, pal. It ain't like he's living here." Thank god for that.

That took Sam down another path of thinking though. Daniel was very heterosexual in school. Everyone knew him to be a womanizer and he'd seen the way Dean and Daniel act in front of their friends–casual, brotherly, nothing the way they acted here. It took the first week of getting used to Daniel coming home with his step brother to realize the 'player' was just an act. Dean was bisexual, and Daniel said he was strictly gay. Girls just did nothing for him apparently. It took another week to realize the only reason they weren't hiding from Sam and his friends was because no one would believe little geeky sophomores with barely any social lives.

Sam supposed it was true. Still he wished the rib hurt a little less.

It was nearing Neil's Halloween party when he decided to invite his friends back to play some Mario Kart on the Wii. Mary was running late picking up some last minute groceries and Sam's dad was lounging on the couch, watching with vague interest as Sam won the third race. Neil sighed but tossed him an amused grin as Sam did his little victory dance, fist pumped in the air. Mike shared a look with John, leaning back against the couch.

"He must've gotten that from somewhere," Mike said as he watched his friend dance and laugh with Neil.

John smirked and folded his arms. "Don't look at me, kid. Not everything silly comes from the father." Which was true, but Sam was pretty sure dad did stuff like this when he was a kid. Even if he couldn't personally picture his stern dad as a kid acting goofy and strange and not serious like Sam. But John just shook his head and leaned forward, an amused grin on his face. "I will confess to giving him that stubborn streak that just drives people crazy though." Everyone laughed and despite being the butt of the joke, that included Sam.

Dean didn't come home until well past six. Mary was dragging him through the door looking mad as hell. She had a right to be. He promised her he'd come home by six or he'd call her when he found he couldn't make the curfew. Sam knew he was in for one hell of a lecture by the look on her face and he couldn't help but feel a little sorry for him even if it was Dean's own fault. Sitting through one of Mary's lectures was like going so close to the sun you're afraid you'd burn, it was that scary.

Neil and Mike stayed for dinner, which consisted of chicken, mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli. Sam was helping himself to seconds when the phone rang. John moved immediately to grab the phone. He looked slightly exasperated when he put the phone to his ear and said, "Hello", and Sam was sure he wanted to just slam the phone down and rip the cables out. Dad had been getting called in nonstop all week. He was tired and cranky and Sam couldn't blame him if he'd been in his shoes.

There was a moment of silence as John seemed frozen in place. Sam wondered if it was bad. He looked back to Mary and took in her wide eyed expression, knowing what she thought, that her husband was going to have to take another case when all everyone wanted was to relax and hang out as a family. Two minutes passed in heavy silence and Sam felt a sense of dread in his stomach. Then John looked back at the table blankly and Sam wondered who it was on the other end. It took another moment to realize his dad wasn't looking at Mary with a grimace that he normally did when he got called in, no; instead he was staring to Sam's left…at Neil.

"It's for you, son," John said dully. Neil stood awkwardly; face ashen as he walked over to take the phone. "I'm sorry."

The 'I'm sorry' rang into the silence like a knife slicing through butter. Sam felt himself swallow, suddenly scared for his friend. The table was quiet and awkward as Neil huddled into a corner after the first words 'Hi, mom' were croaked out. He nodded heavily, eyes rimmed red. After fifteen minutes and the phone was put down again, Neil made his way back to his seat but he didn't say anything and no one said anything back to him. It was one of the worse dinners Sam could remember.

Neil's mom picked him up at just ten past eight. They had to go to the hospital. That was all Sam was able to get out of Neil. Sam turned in early that night. In bed, he pretended to count stars on his ceiling. Dean didn't go to sleep right away. He only knew that because he could hear the faint rumblings of his step brother's guitar through the wall.

For the next few days, Neil was absent from classes. Then Friday came and Sam saw Neil slowly getting off the morning bus heading straight for him. He brought disappointing news with him but Sam knew Neil would cancel the party. The weekend passed in a blur.

Sam had Neil and Mike over still but they only ended up playing a couple hours of videogames before they had to go. Dean came home almost past curfew on Saturday. He wasn't alone however and this time, it wasn't Daniel behind him. It was a pretty blonde girl. Madison Green. She was part of the cheerleading squad. Sam had seen her hanging out with Daniel and Dean. Supposedly they were dating.

Madison grinned when she noticed Sam watching her. He felt a flush on his cheeks when he realized he'd been caught. "Well, well, babe, you should've mentioned your brother was as cute as you."

Dean looked at Sam and grimaced. "He's not actually my brother," Dean mumbled pulling off a shoe. "He's my _step_ brother." He didn't say anything about the 'cute' comment.

"Oh it's just semantics. You know what I mean," she said waving away the concern.

"C'mon let's leave Sammy alone and go upstairs–I wanna show you something." It had always made Sam uncomfortable when Dean was with his friends, especially when he got all 'hands on', even if it was with a girl. Madison leered at Sam as Dean gently pushed her up the stairs. It made the feeling worse when it was a pretty girl.

"But he's just so adorable, babe," Madison said, her voice faint from the top of the stairs. He finally heard his brother's door close and Sam let out a shudder.

He still didn't understand why Dean liked hanging out with them. They just seemed creepy to Sam.

* * *

Mary Campbell liked to believe she made more good choices than bad ones. There was always a lesson that went along with every bad choice she made. But the one that kept coming back to bite her in the ass was probably this: Life always goes on. It was as true as the sky was blue, as the ocean lapped the beaches, as ice melted in the sun.

Mary had been stupid back in college. She'd been smart enough, ambitious enough and yet still was able to make stupid choices like choosing to befriend a lonely boy that wanted to become a musician. His name was Nelson Reed, she used to call him Red because of the jacket he always wore, the one that Dean wore on occasion now. Red had confessed to her he didn't actually like his first name. If Mary had been honest to herself, she'd have said, "Well I do. I think it's adorable." Because really it was. But Red insisted she kept calling him 'Red' because he thought _that_ was adorable.

She fell hard for him during freshman year. He was almost graduated by then. Mary had a habit of being attracted to older men. She couldn't deny it now, being married to John who was older than her by at least five years. But Red was different than John. If John had been there with Mary, he'd consider Red a 'bad boy'. He liked rock music and guitars and sang loud to annoy his friends. He owned a motorcycle that he used to take Mary on every other weekend off campus.

But despite being utterly attracted to wild and danger, Red had been only half a mistake. Mary would never be able to forgive Red for walking out on her, but she realized early on she couldn't hold a grudge on him forever because he gave her, intentionally or not, a gift she'd cherish forever: Dean.

And while it had been a devastating blow to her college self, life did go on without Red.


	3. Halloween

_my goal for this story is 20 chapters at least, so hopefully that's 60k+ words. it probably doesn't count as epic length but i'm not sure i can write 100k words. i'll try though._

Title**: ****Step-Brothers****: ****Blood Doesn't Tie Us**

Genres**: **Family / Friendship / Drama

Rating**: **T

Summary**: Sam didn't want a new mom or brother but couldn't deny his dad happiness. With drama and problems, the Winchesters must learn to get along. Sam/Dean later**

Warnings**: **Sam/Dean, Mary/John, het pairings, slash pairings, incest, cursing, Sam/others, Dean/others, homophobia, no hunting AU, family drama, epic length

* * *

THREE

Halloween was weird this year. Before Mary and Dean, it was just another day in the week. John got up, dressed, grabbed a cup of coffee and went to work all day. Sam went to school and then headed to Sherry's house to play with her niece and nephew. John made sure to phone her the day before, telling her that he'd have Sam come over the next day because he was working overtime. It was just another regular day because John never cared for Halloween or its traditions. He didn't think Sam bought too much into it either or he'd have complained already. But this year was different.

He was expected to relax, to come home and be with the kids, with his wife, his family. He almost cried on his way home thinking about it, suddenly overwhelmed with mixed emotions. When Ellen died, Sam was only four and he'd been terrified of Halloween then. He'd been too young to remember. In a way, this was going to be Sam's first celebrated Halloween and there was no way John was going to screw it up for him. No way.

As it turned out, he arrived home at precisely four PM. The silver van was already parked in the driveway signaling that once again he'd been out-sped by his wife. He smiled at the thought of Mary. Knowing her she already had something in the oven by now and was sorting through the candy for the trick-o-treaters. While John never really liked candy, not including the occasional 'Kisses' he'd indulge himself with when no one was looking, Mary had a well known addiction to chocolate which was probably one of the reasons why she'd looked at him like he was the weirdest person on the whole planet when he explained the lack of Halloween décor. He examined the front of the house before he went in. A quick run to Wal-Mart last weekend took care of it.

He could see fake cobwebs on the trees and hedges, going over some of the lovely flowers Dean tried to plant on whim a month ago. The string of blinking red lights around the door was Sam's idea. John supposed it made the house a little…oh who was he kidding, if he'd said spooky, he'd be lying. He supposed 'snazzier' was a better word though he was sure that wasn't exactly what his sons had been aiming for.

Dinner was Pot Roast Chicken and John was only a little ashamed to admit he ate like he was starving. It made him feel better when he turned his head to see both boys eating like pigs as well. Mary for her part had a hard time trying to force down the smile, going for looking scolding as best she could.

"This is pretty good, Mary, you did a fantastic job," he said, setting his fork and knife down gently.

Mary beamed from across the table. "Well I'm glad someone didn't forget his manners tonight." A quick look at the boys again made John grin.

"Hey, take it as the highest order of compliment you can get–your cooking's so good they just can't get enough."

Mary grimaced. "They're acting like pigs, John," she complained as Dean shoved his face into the leg of his chicken.

"Oh c'mon mom, it's good," Dean said in between chews. "So, so, good!"

Sam was the only one to have the decency to look down at his plate guiltily, as if he'd just realized his behavior. He elbowed his step brother in the rib. "Dude, that's so gross–what are you, five? At least don't talk with your mouth full!"

"Ow, you brat."

"What'd you just call me?" Amused, John watched as the boys started rough housing. It took him back to when he was a young boy, careless and free, shoving around with his own brother and sister and driving his parents crazy.

Mary sighed but was no longer scolding. She picked up the empty plates and dumped them into the sink, about to start the wash. John got up intending to relieve her of the duty for tonight. He knew how much Halloween meant to Mary, he wanted her to be able to enjoy it with the boys. When he reached the kitchen he was surprised to her leaning against the counter, the dishes untouched, she was watching John's moves with a strange, lecherous leer.

"Come here," she mumbled, her stare dipping down to his suddenly dry lips. John wasted no time to hurry over, his strong arms wrapping around her waist, the stubble on his chin just barely touching her warm, shivering skin.

"What about the boys," he murmured into her ear, enjoying the way she leaned more into the caress.

"They're both fourteen, John. Let them enjoy Halloween together." John sighed; he wanted to be there to see the look on Sam's face when he saw all the costumes the kids were dressed up in. He was sure it'd be like a child getting presents for the first time on Christmas day. "Besides," Mary continued in a low, husky voice John couldn't ignore, "Sam and Dean won't want us there. I remember when I was fourteen, John; I didn't want my mom and dad buzzing around me like overprotective mama and papa bears–the thought _embarrassed_ me." John would've laughed at Mary's comparison to bears had he not been caught up on the word 'embarrass'.

He'd never considered the possibility of him acting as chaperone as embarrassing, but now that it was in the air, it seemed like a high possibility–no, he was sure that was how Sam's mind worked. He reluctantly pulled his head up to see Mary. By the exasperated look on her face, Dean was the same way. It was perfectly natural for a teenager to think that anything having to do with 'moms' and 'dads' were not considered 'cool', no matter how much John thought otherwise. He sighed into Mary's hair, taking in her fresh conditioner. "I just want to do more stuff with the kids," he confessed softly. "With the family."

He felt Mary nod against him, absently rubbing gentle circles on his back. "I know. Me too. Just not tonight, it's their night," she pleaded.

John shut his eyes, groaning into the massage. "OK."

"If it makes you feel any better, I let them invite their friends over so they won't be too lonely while we take this to the bedroom." There was a reason why he married Mary.

* * *

Dean knew it was a bad idea. Sam and Mike were already here getting the buckets full of candy ready for the first horde of trick-o-treaters. Neil couldn't make it of course, that was fine by Dean, one less runt to worry about. He'd tried to talk her out of it, really he did. But who knew girls were so stubborn? Maybe it was a Maddie thing. Maddie insisted on coming over today and wouldn't take 'no' for an answer. Dean already asked Daniel to come though. He bit the bottom of his lips as he glanced back at Sam and Mike who were in deep conversation about…something, probably some geek talk Dean never cared for.

It was definitely a problem that his fake-after-school boyfriend was coming over at the same time with his fake-in-school girlfriend. But that wasn't exactly the problem, if it was it wouldn't really be a problem–he knew Daniel had the sense to lay off when Maddie didn't have a single clue. It was Sam and Mike that was a problem. They knew about Daniel and Maddie and Dean wasn't sure what would stop them from trying to tell Maddie tonight now that there weren't jocks and cheerleaders and other people here.

Maddie would probably not believe them but she was an insecure bitch sometimes and she'd probably ask Daniel about it, and Dean knew if she did it'd be all over for the both of them because Daniel never lies if asked direct questions. The thought made Dean feel queasy. He decided he'd just call Daniel to cancel tonight.

Taking out his cell phone again, he speed dialed the senior. It went straight to voice mail. He cursed inwardly and tried again, slumping in the couch. Looking at his brother and his friend, he took in a deep breath and pocketed his phone, knowing what he had to do.

* * *

It wasn't like Dean had been all that subtle. Sam had thought when he'd first seen Daniel that everyone knew about his step brother's gay relationship with the senior. It came as a heavy shock when he realized no one did–not even dad or Mary as far as he could see. It was just Sam and Mike and who would ever believe a couple geeky know-it-alls that as far as everyone else was concerned hung out in Sam's dad's basement all day playing 'Dungeons and Dragons'?

So it came as another shock when said brother had practically begged them to act all normal and not mention anything about what he and Daniel did behind everyone's backs to the nutty cheerleader. Sam conveniently forgot her name.

"Sure, sure, but what would you do in return?" Sam asked. There was a glint in Mike's eye as he nodded along and Sam knew Dean had seen it too.

"Uh, I dunno, nothing, maybe, or uhm, did you have something particular in mind?" Honestly? Sam didn't, he just wanted to see how Dean would react. But now that he was thinking about it, he probably did, probably a lot of something. "I can help you with your Biology homework whenever you need it?" he offered with a shrug. Sam knew Dean was good in Biology while it was Sam's weak point. It was a nice gesture and Sam was tempted to take it but he had a better one.

Licking his lips, Sam hedged, "I've thought of something better." Dean tilted his head, a frown twisting his lips as he waited silently for Sam's offer. "We promise to keep quiet and you'll in turn have to be nice to us."

Dean squinted at him as he mulled over the deal. "Us?" he said finally.

"Yeah–me, Mike, and Neil," Sam said, looking over to his friend. Mike looked slightly put off.

"What do you mean by 'nice'? I am nice to you," Dean said. There was a slight pause. "Aren't I?"

"Sure you are," Mike snorted. "Just the sweetest bunch of daisies, ain't ya?"

Dean scowled. "Hey, pal, listen here–"

Sam raised an eyebrow, cutting him off with a, "–that's playing it nice, Dean?" His step brother had the decency to look sheepish. "Look, what I mean by 'nice' is," licking his lips again, he stole another glance to his friend, "is you gotta do what we ask and not complain about it for a month, like if Daniel is suddenly over and we don't want to hear all that porno sex noise–," ignoring his brother's shocked expression, Sam ventured on, "we'd ask you guys to leave and you'd leave. OK? It'd just be simple requests like that. I mean, that's fair, right? It's just common courtesy."

Dean continued to gape at him as Sam shifted uncomfortably, a dark flush on his cheeks. "It's being nice, Dean. I mean it's not like I'm blackmailing you into being my slave or something," he said, then gaped in surprise at the words that just left his mouth, suddenly wishing he could take them all back.

Dean seemed to snap out of his daze at that, his expression going from mild shock to red in the face anger. Mike had the nerve to actually giggle. "Blackmailing? Slave? Really? Ya know, when you try and convince someone of the opposite of what you're doing–just a fucking word to the wise–you shouldn't use the _actual_ words 'cos Sammy, that's exactly what you're doing here." There was a slight pause in Dean's tirade. "Actually, you know what, forget it! Just take the Biology deal or not–Maddie probably won't even believe you guys anyway, I'll take my chances 'cos there's no way I'm gonna be reduced to being my little brother's _slave_."

Dean didn't even wait for a response, shoving off the couch to the kitchen. Sam was left gaping in bewilderment as Mike opened the door to early Devils and Ballerinas and Firemen, tossing handfuls of candy into each bucket and pillow case presented to him. Mike sniggered as he waved goodbye to a miniature pink princess. He nudged Sam in the rib when he noticed the teen hasn't moved from his spot since Dean left. "Aww c'mon man, no sulking here."

"I'm not sulking," Sam mumbled into his arm. He was sitting on the edge of the bottom stair, arms propped up on his knees, head pressed into his shirt sleeves. "Maybe I should just take his Biology offer. I mean, I do have a test coming up and I could probably use the extra help."

Mike shrugged reaching into the bucket to dig up a tootsie roll. "To be honest I don't see why we can't just, you know, keep quiet. I mean, he's your brother, right–well, step brother."

Sam snorted. "Well yeah but he's also, you know, _Dean_," he said simply, as if that explained everything. At Mike's confused look, Sam sighed and pushed back his bangs. "I mean sure he's my brother, but it's like some kind of sibling thing–nothing you do is ever for free." He thought back to the first few weeks of being step brothers. Dean liked to stay up really late sometimes and play his guitar and while Sam liked it during the day, he got real fed up with it quick at nights. He remembered one time stumbling into Dean's room and asking very politely if Dean would kindly tone it down. Dean had smirked and ramped up the noise. And that was just one little example in Sam's ever growing list. He gave Mike a crooked grin. "You'd understand if you had a brother or sister."

Mike dipped his hand into the candy bucket. "Well I'm glad I don't have to then."

It was close to eight when Dean came back saying, "They said they'll be here in half an hour." Sam didn't say anything. "Have you, uh, thought of the offer?"

"Yeah," Sam said after a moment. Hesitantly he continued, "I've, ah, decided to take you up on the–"

"–we decided to tell," Mike interrupted suddenly. Sam looked back at him in shock.

"What the hell, Mike," he hissed.

"Unless you're nice to us, we'll tell," Mike repeated unperturbed.

Dean laughed, shaking his head. "Oh so we're back to _this_? Really, Sammy?"

Sam shook his head, torn between betrayal and anger. "I have no idea what Mike's trying to do, _really_, Dean. I wanted to take the Biology deal."

"No deal," Dean snapped, then seemed to contemplate it at the pleading look Sam was giving him. "Unless you can keep your_ friend_ here on a leash…maybe I'll consider it."

Sam breathed a sigh of relief and nodded, internally grateful Dean didn't seem as mad. He shot a glare to his so-called friend. Mike didn't even have the courtesy to look ashamed as he munched on another tootsie roll. "Was worth a shot," he mumbled through a mouthful of chocolate. The comment wasn't even worth replying to.

Madison and Daniel arrived at almost the same time. There was another person Sam wasn't all that familiar with dragging along behind Madison though. The guy had a mop of brown hair and thick framed glasses that partly hid a speckle of freckles. Sam noted he wasn't as pretty as his brother or Daniel, but he wasn't really ugly either, just maybe average. Sam shot a look at Mike as the three made their way to the door.

Mike thankfully behaved for the rest of the evening, handing out candy quietly with Sam as his brother and his three friends headed up the stairs to Dean's room. Sam learned the new guy's name was Eliot Abbot by the end of the night. Apparently Eliot drove both Madison and his sister to some random guy's party tonight and said sister was still there. They were going back to pick her up now.

Daniel drove in his own car, not that Sam had thought any differently.

By the time Eliot and Madison headed out, it was close to ten, long past trick or treating hours. There was an occasional straggler but they stopped coming once Sam closed and locked the door and turned off the light outside. Sam was lounging on the couch staring the big screen TV, the 'You Win' Mario Kart screen displayed before him and Mike was currently whooping in victory, acting like a kid that had too much sugar–which was actually true, given how many tootsie rolls he'd been snacking on all night.

"Well if it isn't Captain Lame and his dimwitted cadet," a deep voice drawled from behind Sam.

"You're calling me 'lame' and that's the best insult you can come up with?" Sam snorted.

Daniel smirked at them. "Touché."

"And I'm not dimwitted," Mike added. "Just an FYI, I have a near 3.8 GPA."

"That's all well and good, but I've got a 4.0." There was a tinge of smugness in Daniel's voice that annoyed Sam. He was about to tell him off when Dean grabbed the senior from behind and tried to manhandle him back up the stairs, eyeing Sam carefully.

"Are those jerks giving you trouble?" his brother murmured.

Daniel shrugged then shook his head as he let himself be led back up. "Nah, just sharing GPA scores. Man who knew your brother and his friend were so smart."

Sam didn't bother to point out he didn't actually know if he was because he didn't tell him his GPA, which was actually 3.8. Mike had a 3.75.

Dean gave a brief grin, showing white teeth. "Yeah, who knew?" Sam took it as a warning.

Mike left thirty minutes later. It took Daniel another hour to slip out the house. Apparently being a senior made people forget about curfews, or maybe made people think they were immune to it. Whatever the reason, Sam didn't stick around to think too much on it. Sam went straight to bed after Mike left. He only knew when Daniel left because on the morning after–Thursday–Dean casually told him as he poured some milk into his oatmeal.

Sam had grimaced as he poured 'Lucky Charms' into his own bowl, wondering how Dean could even like oatmeal.

"How'd the party go last night?" Sam peered curiously up to see dad climb down the stairs in a bath robe. His hair was disheveled and there were tired bags under his eyes like he'd stayed up so late he barely got any sleep. On the other hand, Mary came down a few minutes later looking completely refreshed. It made Sam wonder and then suddenly shudder and not, wanting to banish the weird new thoughts.

"Well enough," Dean grunted. A brief moment later, "Pass the sugar, Sammy."

Mechanically, Sam did. He was handed a spoon and a cup of half filled milk in return. He glanced up in surprise but Dean just shook his head, a slight smile curved on his lips. "Uh, thanks."

"Don't mention it."


	4. Complications

_i'd like to thank you guys for reviewing, alerting and favoriting thus far. i'm glad people are reading my story. this kind of drama story isn't exactly the kind of stories i tend to write on Word but i've been meaning to give it a shot for a lil while now._

Title**: ****Step-Brothers****: ****Blood Doesn't Tie Us**

Genres**: **Family / Friendship / Drama

Rating**: **T

Summary**: Sam didn't want a new mom or brother but couldn't deny his dad happiness. With drama and problems, the Winchesters must learn to get along. Sam/Dean later**

Warnings**: **Sam/Dean, Mary/John, het pairings, slash pairings, incest, cursing, Sam/others, Dean/others, homophobia, no hunting AU, family drama, epic length

* * *

FOUR

It was the little things at first. They were so little and things that Sam always took for granted that he never really noticed when anything changed. But by mid November, Sam finally realized Dean was acting different, nicer. It was a weird realization to make. But it was there, so obviously out in the open he'd be stupid not to admit it. Dean passed the sugar whenever he was done using it instead of setting it down all the way on the other side of the table like he used to, softly sniggering into his fisted hand at Sam's glare. He poured milk for both of them at breakfast now, or handed Sam the right utensils for dinner, or would come up behind him when he was doing homework and shake his head and say, "that's not right, buddy," and then proceed to pull up a chair and explain to Sam what he was doing wrong. He was just _nicer_. And it was such a subtle change that it caught Sam off-guard because he was also still Dean more times than not.

"Here, Sammy, now sit down and eat already." Dean tapped the spatula against the table, grinning as Sam gratefully took the plate full of pancakes from him. He poured a generous amount of syrup on top of their pancakes which got a groan from Sam as he watched the overflow on his plate. It looked good, really good.

Sam was half way done when dad decided to come downstairs in a good mood, humming some weird tune Sam couldn't place. It wasn't until Dean grinned and was humming with him that he recognized it even before his brother said smugly, "Firefly." Sam felt guilty for not realizing it sooner; it was one of dad's favorite shows after all–and sometimes Sam found himself watching it too.

"Is that pancakes I smell?" Dad had a big goofy smile on his face, Sam could've sworn he'd died and gone to heaven.

Dean grinned back and nodded and proceeded to take two more plates out for mom and dad. Then he poured two steaming cups of coffee. Sam and Dean both finished by the time Mary came down looking unusually disheveled and sleep deprived. John was on his second mug and reading the sports section. He peered curiously up at mom.

"You OK, Mary?" he asked.

Mary shook her head and groaned, "I don't feel so good. Did I get hit by a truck in bed last night, John?"

Sam quietly excused himself from the table. School seemed to drag on for an eternity that day. It was after dinner that Mary and dad came out with the news that sent both a thrill and terror shooting through Sam.

"I'm pleased to inform you guys that your mom is pregnant," Dad said, fumbling to wrap his arms around mom's waist.

The news left Sam stuttering, mind reeling. He couldn't get past the "wows" and "I don't know what to say but congrats" and "I hope it's a boy" and even "Oh gosh I'm going to finally be a big brother, aren't I?" Dad and mom were practically beaming. Dean was a bigger mystery though. He'd gone quiet all night. Sam supposed he was just in shock and he'd snap out of it by morning. He was right. Dean acted like nothing happened last night and somehow, Sam was inwardly relieved, sucking out a breath he hasn't even realized he'd been holding.

A lot more stuff happened throughout November and Sam wondered idly what it was about this month that drew in complications. Sherry moved out sometime before Thanksgiving. Sam asked her where she was going and why. She answered with a simple "Florida". Sam missed her.

It didn't take very long for the Winchesters to get new next door neighbors though; the Novak family. Mary and dad made everyone stop by on their first day here just for politeness' sake. Sam remembered getting kind of bored when the conversation turned from awkward 'hellos' to 'who's your favorite football team?'. It was on complete accident he got a glimpse of the youngest Novak son, Jimmy, AKA Castiel, AAKA (also _also_ known as) Cas–Dean's idea.

Jimmy was probably the first mutual friend Sam and Dean had. He was funny and smart and shy. He also got invited to stay for Thanksgiving.

* * *

Mr. and Mrs. Novak–Christian and Elizabeth–had two sons. Jimmy was a sophomore like Dean and Sam. Jacob was off in California in college. Jimmy said he visited for Christmas and New Years. Dean didn't really care to hear about Jacob though.

Jimmy was a weird puzzle to Dean. He tended to follow Dean around like a lost puppy even when Dean tried to hand him off to Sam. It was like playing 'Hot Potato' and this case, Jimmy was the unwanted potato. But just like the case of Sam, Dean couldn't help but like Jimmy if only a little bit. He had a certain quirkiness to him that just made him likeable he supposed.

Still when they were at school Dean did his best to ignore both Jimmy and Sam. It didn't really work the first day.

"Your friends are a bit, ah, closed off, Dean," Jimmy said leaning against a stall. He'd managed to follow Dean to the restroom just outside the cafeteria much to the younger boy's annoyance. "They also seem closed minded. Why do you hang out with people like that?"

Dean wondered why he hung out with people like Jimmy actually. "Look, I get you wanna keep close to people you actually know and I appreciate that I'm one of those people, but can you quit hammering on my friends? Where's Sam anyway? Why don't you tag along with him?"

"Because I like you better," Jimmy said simply.

* * *

It was still Thanksgiving break when Mary got the call. Her dad wanted to come over to finally meet John and Sam. Mary agreed readily because she still hasn't told him about her pregnancy, she figured it'd be killing two birds with one stone. John asked who was on the phone when she hopped into bed with him. She just smiled and flicked off the light, "It's a surprise, but I'm sure you'll love it, babe."

"It's not your father is it?" John half joked, leaning down to give her a kiss.

Mary frowned, wondering how he'd guessed it without having to think much about it. Mary after all never really talked much about her family, it was only dragged out in conversation after John's off-handed comments about wondering what her parents were like or he wished he could meet them just so he could thank them for producing such an incredible person like Mary. Ultimately it got Mary to thinking it was about time John got his wish. It was a good her father felt the same way as John.

Samuel Campbell was the name of Mary's father. It came as a pleasant surprise to John that his father-in-law and his son shared the same name, because really, it wasn't like John had Mary's father's name in mind when he came up with Sam, or for that matter neither did Ellen. However Samuel wasn't anything like Sam. They were the polar opposite in fact, like night and day. Mary tried to make her father as comfortable as possible, fetching pillows for the extra guest room even though there was already a bunch of pillows stock piled in the closet there.

Between Mary's ridiculous requests for the oddest combination of food and Samuel's visit, John was tired by the end of the week and was ready to snap. He didn't snap first. Oddly enough it was Dean.

"Oh come on, this is so stupid, when the hell's the old geezer leaving already?" he demanded, slamming a cup of store bought yogurt on the table. "I can't invite any my friends over because now they keep complaining that grandpops up there makes so much noise it's like a bulldozer's trying to ram the house down! Plus he never leaves enough hot water for me to take my morning shower and steals Sam's eggs at breakfast so I'd always have to make _extra_. C'mon, mom, you can't possibly expect me to be able to take much more of this. It's fucking torture!"

As if Dean's explosion had been some invisible cue Sam had been waiting for, the next day it was Sam's turn to voice complaint that made Mary want to sigh and bash her head against the wall at the same time. All day Mary only heard "he reeks", "he keeps stealing the remote, I can't watch my show", "I can't sleep up there anymore" and on and on it went. By Friday, Mary was tired and hungry and cranky. John was working and the boys had already gone back to school, normal Winchester routine. Mary was going to give Samuel a piece of her mind.

She found Samuel lying on his back on the guest bed staring thoughtfully up at the ceiling. His body was tensed, hands folded together on his stomach, like he was trying to relax but was failing. "Hey Mare," he said after a moment. Mary stood uncertainly by the doorway. "I'm thinking of heading back home tomorrow," he continued, then made a vague gesture to his packed suitcase in the corner by the closet.

Mary blinked in surprise. "Heading back home?" she parroted.

Samuel gave a half hearted laugh. "Yeah, it seems your kids don't want me here," he said, then paused to consider something, "and neither does John, neither do you." There was a silent moment and Mary wanted to deny the last part of his statement, but Samuel just held up his hand that told Mary he didn't want to hear anything she had to say, he'd already made up his mind on this. In a horrible way, Mary was glad he stopped her protests because she knew he was _right_ and to deny it would be to lie to her father. "I been wanting to head back anyway. My brother, Travis–your uncle–called last week, he'd come to Louisiana and he wanted to take me golfing sometime while he's still in town. I want to catch him before he left again–did I tell you I gotten this weird addiction to golf?"

Mary laughed and shook her head, coming into the room to sit on the edge of the bed. "No. Since when did you start playing golf?" There was a twinkle in Samuel's eyes as he explained the dynamics of golfing. They stayed and talked until the boys got home.

Dean was still closed off, marching straight to his room and slamming it shut first thing after school. Sam wasn't really any better, though he did cast Mary a brief glance and said "hi". Mary wasn't even sure if this was all had to do with Samuel. John also seemed to be avoiding her. She caught him in their bathroom about to take a quick shower.

"Are the, uh, boys avoiding _me_ and not Samuel?"

John frowned, movement faltering. He looked suddenly uneasy and afraid as if she'd snap at him if he said the wrong thing. She frowned at the thought and waited for her husband's response. "Well, you're uhm…"

"I'm an 'uhm' what?" Mary asked, exasperated. "And why are you suddenly so afraid of me? I'm not going to bite your head off, honest to god, John!"

"You've just been a real pain in the ass lately, Mary," John suddenly snapped. Then he paled like he couldn't believe what he'd just said. "I mean, I'm sorry–I didn't mean that, it just came out. You know that, babe. C'mere."

Mary stood frozen near the sink. It suddenly clicked. They really had been avoiding _Mary_, not Samuel. Maybe they were annoyed with Samuel to an extent but the real problem had actually been Mary. And well, she might've been a bit bitchy lately, what with the food cravings and morning sickness and random mood swings. It was the pregnancy of course and Mary couldn't really help it, but still, it hurt to hear it out loud like that from John.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Mary, really I am," John was saying, edging closer until Mary could smell his cologne.

* * *

In all the months Dean was dating Madison, sex surprisingly never came up as a topic. Eliot was right, she didn't 'put out' very fast, Dean wasn't even sure if she put out at all. But that was OK; it wasn't like the world revolved around sex. Dean knew that Sam somehow got the idea that Dean was some kind of 'man slut' because during all of freshman year he'd have some different girl to take home. In truth though the whole extent of Dean's sexual conquest only went as far as making out. He'd never had actual sexual intercourse, not yet anyway.

He'd read about it on the internet though, and watched a couple porn videos. It wasn't like he was wholly inexperienced, but as far as real life was concerned Dean was still a full fledged virgin. Only two people knew about that though. Daniel, who seemed pretty chill about it considering he was, you know, a 'cool' senior and Dean himself. He was pretty sure mom and John secretly knew too but they didn't ask and Dean didn't feel like telling them. He was only fourteen, as far as parents were concerned they'd have their children wait until they were twenty-five and married to lay it out for them. Personally Dean couldn't see himself ever waiting that long to have sex.

The only person that thought it was awesome that Dean was a 'sex' fanatic-Sam's words- was Jimmy though. Sam looked on with disgust, wrinkling his nose like there was a nasty smell in the air every time he saw Dean making out with Madison; well it was more the other way around because somehow the cheerleader always managed to shove her tongue down his throat before he got the chance to think of the move first.

Jimmy was oddly fascinated with Dean's make out sessions. It was creepy in a weird, brotherly way like if Dean caught Sam staring out of the corner of his eye after a ridiculously intense and hot kiss that left him gasping and out of breath.

Because really, that was what Jimmy had become, Dean realized, a _brother_ and if it was one thing Dean learned in the long run since staying with the Winchesters was that blood didn't make up family. It was true and Sam was evidence.

"What does it feel like, kissing?" Jimmy asked as he sat upright on Sam's bed. All three of them were crowded in Sam's room slurping on popsicles. The only reason Dean wasn't in his own room was because John had insisted on repainting the walls there since the wallpapers were peeling off.

It was early December but still not that cold. Still the popsicles weren't all that helpful, making Dean's teeth chatter a bit. "What do you mean? Kissing is just kissing," Dean said. "Haven't you ever kissed your mom before?"

Sam snorted. "That's not the same thing, Dean."

"Sure it is."

Jimmy frowned, licking away at his popsicle. "Well yeah I have but it's just a peck on the cheek, you know? I mean full-on smack on the lips, tongue down your throat, that kind of thing."

Sam made a stuttering noise but Jimmy seemed completely unfazed by the description he'd just used. That was the other thing Dean admired about Jim, he never beat around the bush when he had a point to make, never looked embarrassed, ashamed. Unlike Sam who was shy and easily embarrassed that Dean couldn't help but pick on him until he was puffed up and red in the face.

Dean rolled his eyes at his brother's predictable reaction before peering curiously at their friend. "You wanna know what it's like? Like how badly?" he asked.

Jimmy shrugged and thought about it. "Not badly badly I don't think, just curious is all."

Dean nodded to himself. He understood the natural tug of human curiosity. "Ever consider experimenting?"

"No not really. Why? You have something in mind?"

Sam looked between them as if they'd both lost their minds. Maybe Dean did, with what he was going to suggest next. "Yeah, maybe. I mean, I don't really consider myself a kissing expert or anything but if you want, I can show you."

"Yeah, sure," Jimmy said. Maybe Jimmy lost his mind too.

Kissing Jimmy wasn't anything like kissing Madison or Daniel. It wasn't hot or intense, didn't make the air go all heavy with electricity but it also didn't feel bland or wrong, like kissing a sibling. Dean did feel something. A little fluttering in his stomach maybe, a chill down his spine, something.

It was only a light brush of lips on lips but it wasn't quick or long. It was just enough for Dean to know he felt something and maybe it wasn't really something he was looking to find but now he realized Jimmy wasn't like a brother to him, or even a friend. Somehow he was a little more than those. It made Dean feel strange.

It was equally as uncomfortable for Sam when the two finally pulled away from each other.

"That was, just, that was just wow," Jimmy breathed in an awed voice.

Dean smirked taking the compliment fully to heart, because really he was a pretty good kisser. Jimmy came over every day since the experimental kiss. Sam became a little more withdrawn. Dean didn't notice at first until Sam completely shut the room from them and they had to study and work on homework in Dean's room for the first time in December.

Dean wasn't even sure what his brother's problem was. He thought they'd been getting along real well lately, since Dean had made the silent decision to be nicer to his brother because Sam was right. Dean hadn't been all that brotherly even if he thought otherwise.

It was the second week in December that they'd fallen back to their normal routine, inviting friends over and ignoring each other, generally staying in their rooms until they had to get ready for school in the morning. Mom and John didn't catch on to their behaviors until the middle of the week when Dean just dumped the dishes into the sink and started to leave to go straight up to his room again.

"Why aren't you helping your brother with the dishes?" John demanded.

Dean shrugged off the rough hand from his shoulder. "Because it's _his_ turn to do them," he snapped.

Which was true had they been keeping up with their chore schedules, but ever since Thanksgiving, Dean had been pitching in to do a lot of things around the house, and maybe it was because of the invisible brotherly bond between them, Sam had followed suit quickly enough.

Now it was like they were back to square one.


	5. Snow

Title**: ****Step-Brothers****: ****Blood Doesn't Tie Us**

Genres**: **Family / Friendship / Drama

Rating**: **T

Summary**: Sam didn't want a new mom or brother but couldn't deny his dad happiness. With drama and problems, the Winchesters must learn to get along. Sam/Dean later**

Warnings**: **Sam/Dean, Mary/John, het pairings, slash pairings, incest, cursing, Sam/others, Dean/others, homophobia, no hunting AU, family drama, epic length

* * *

FIVE

Snow. Dean loved snow. He loved building snowmen and snow forts and snow angels. Jimmy came over at first snowfall shivering in a large parka, the hood hiding white, snow flecked hair. His boots scraped the floor and trailed snow into the kitchen where Sam and Dean had cups of hot cocoa. Dean took one look at Jimmy and offered to make him a cup too. Jimmy said sure. Sam glared sulkily into his cocoa and after Jimmy slurped the rest of his cup, the three decided to go to this hill in the neighborhood that Jimmy had said was really big and could probably be used to sled down, though he hasn't tried it before and Dean was inexperienced in sledding period.

Sam seemed to be the only one who knew what he was doing because he used to go sledding with John all the time during winter break. Once Sam confirmed the hill was indeed big enough to sled down, they went back to the house to fetch the old, rusted wagon Dean had only seen crammed in the back of the garage. It was dangerous and Dean almost chickened out at the last minute.

"What's the matter, Dean, you chicken?" Sam taunted.

Logic be damned. "No, not at all."

It was Dean's fault, because in the back of his head he knew it was a dumb thing to do but he did it anyway. Somehow Sam managed to cajole him to take a one way ticket down the steep, icy hill in a wagon with a broken handle. It was pretty suicidal and he wondered briefly if he secretly was because neither Sam nor Jimmy got in the wagon with him, even when he resorted to pleading and begging. In the end, Sam's double dog dare got to him and he 'manned' up and climbed in.

He went to ER that night for a sprained ankle. John was pissed, Sam was sorry, Jimmy was horrified and mom was half worried and half ready to burst into lecture mode. Dean was…well he knew in the future there was no way he'd give in to another of Sam's dares or double dares or even double 'dog' dares.

* * *

His name was Andy Gallagher. He wasn't new, Sam had seen him around wandering the halls with his own flock of friends from time to time, but he recently transferred to Sam's homeroom. It was Algebra 2 with Miss France, who was kind of a boring teacher. The only thing Sam thought was funny about her was her name because she was certainly not French. She even said so herself on the first day of school.

Andy thought his transfer was a mistake because he said he was supposed to be in Trig, but Miss France had taken one good, hard look at his schedule and then looked him in the eye and said, "No, nope, I don't think so. It says right here where you're supposed to be."

Sam remembered the way Andy just scowled and mumbled, "Well my teacher said I was going to be in Trig," as he passed him to the desk at the back. Of course there were a couple empty seats near Sam from when Teresa and Jake transferred out, and only one desk in the back corner. Miss France noticed and ordered Andy to pick one of the desks near Sam. Sam wasn't sure if he was grateful to her for giving him someone new to talk to or annoyed that it had to be Andy.

"So you're Sam, huh?"

Sam looked up from his book, startled. They'd been given a test earlier in class and he'd finished twenty minutes ago, one of the first few to get it done. He never noticed Andy finishing his own during the time he got out the novel he had to read for English. He gulped and nodded under Andy's intense gaze. "Yeah, yeah, and you're Andy," he said lamely, his voice low as to not draw attention to them.

Andy gave him a boyish grin that made Sam's throat feel dry. He made to grab the book from Sam's hands and Sam barely kept it out of reach, a sudden scowl taking over his shocked face. "Hey no need to be so grabby. Normal people just ask, 'can I see your book?' You'll be surprised by how people respond to politeness," Sam said.

There was a slight twinkle in Andy's eyes as his smile widened, looking at Sam in a whole new light. "Did you really just say 'grabby'? What, are you still in kindergarten?"

Sam huffed playfully. "Yeah I did say 'grabby', you got a problem with my vocabulary, Mister Trig?"

"Nah, not really, was just curious if_ you_ were aware of it."

Sam didn't realize until later that Andy was a lot like Dean.

Sam should've realized Andy and Dean wouldn't like each other; Jimmy took it a little better but ultimately sided with Dean. Sam's other friends Neil and Mike were at worst OK with the extension from the trio to include another person and at best, might've liked Andy a little better than Sam, or maybe that was just Sam's insecurity talking. Andy wasn't really a replacement for his step brother that Sam could never seem to get close to anymore. But he'd be lying to himself if he said there wasn't anything going on between him and Andy.

The closer to winter break they got, the more Sam noticed things between them changing. Like with Dean it started off little enough that Sam didn't notice at first. Like sometimes Andy would brush past him on the way to sharpen his pencil in class and that was OK, not wrong, because they sat next to each other in class and Andy always wore this black leather jacket. The air conditioner was on and of course it'd flap and brush against Sam's sweater or tee-shirt or whatever he'd been wearing that morning. But then there were more obvious things that Sam couldn't just ignore or reason himself with.

The more 'obvious' things like leaving his hand on Sam's shoulder a lot longer than was necessary as he leaned over for better view to see the latest test score, the not so accidental bumping of shoulders whenever they passed each other, the way he'd rush over to Sam in the hallway even when he was in the middle of some deep, intriguing conversation with friends. Sam was both confused and flattered by all the attention. At first at least. It became more of an endurance test as the year wore on, he'd speculate later. In the month of December however the idea that Sam could hold someone like Andy's attention was welcoming, refreshing.

Sam wasn't naïve. He knew what Andy was doing, had seen it all the time in silly drama movies that mom and dad would watch late at night, sitting on the couch and cuddling up–though dad would deny it in all hours of the day. He somehow found the courage to ask Andy up front one day, no beating around the bushes either and if he'd blushed when he made his demand it wasn't Sam's fault, it was due to his age and inexperience. Andy just smiled back and Sam wasn't sure what he'd been so embarrassed for, because they were friends, or maybe more, maybe who knew.

"We've been friends for how long now?" Andy asked seriously.

Sam shrugged, fiddling with his ruler. "Uhm since you transferred here, which was probably two weeks ago at the very least."

Andy nodded, looking thrilled with the answer and Sam felt liked he'd just answered a question worth fifty bucks. There was earnestness on his face as he said, "And I like you, Sam, I really do. I've liked you since I met you."

Sam cocked his head to the side a little surprised at the news. "You do? Like as a friend or…something more?"

They stared at each other for a moment in silence. Then the morning bell rang and students filed in. Then Andy ducked his head, a light flush on his cheeks and just laughed, like Sam just cracked the funniest joke Andy's ever heard in his life. Maybe he did. Sam only had a few seconds to follow that train of thought, to think about apologizing, that he read the signals all wrong after all, and he felt his self-confidence start to deflate but then Andy stopped to breathe and finally mumbled something so low Sam almost didn't catch it over the drone of Miss France.

"I don't know but I'd like to find out if you want to."

Sam said yes.

* * *

You never really realize what you had until it went missing. That was what Dean learned as he watched his brother lean not so subtly up against the Andy Gallagher guy. It was winter break. John was out front with the strings of blinking, Christmas colored lights and mom was out there too nagging him about the groceries again, though she claimed earlier she was just going to see if their dad needed any help. That only left Sam, Andy, Dean and Jimmy inside; Sam and Andy lounging on the couch watching some documentary on the History channel and Jimmy had wandered upstairs a little while ago fed up with waiting for Dean to snap out of his daze.

No Daniel or Madison or even Neil or Mike. Dean had attempted to call Daniel earlier but he was on some ski trip and Madison's phone kept going to voicemail. So Dean settled for awkwardly taking the other couch and half paying attention, half falling asleep to the droning narrator talking about early indentured servitude and slavery.

Dean snapped awake a couple hours later to the smell of dinner. He almost fell off the couch when he saw dark blue eyes blinking down at him. Jimmy grinned when he noticed he was finally awake, rubbing away the last remnants of sleep from his eyes.

"Ws'up, Jim?"

Jimmy looked at him with an amused grin as he helped up from the floor. "Nothing, man. Just didn't want you to miss dinner."

Dean grinned back, warmed at the concern. "We got any pie tonight, mom?" he hollered in the direction of the kitchen.

Mary's head popped through the door, a half serious scowl on her face. "Don't shout! I'm not your personal maid, hon." But her eyes lit up and Dean knew the answer before she even said it. "Grab some extra forks for everyone and help me set up the table, will you, Dean?"

Dean's grin was brilliant in the dimly lit living room.

Christmas Eve couldn't arrive any slower. Dean had been marking his calendar, counting down the days, and it felt like it was a snail's slow slither. He saw more of Andy than he wanted to. But Sam was always happier when he was here, the little freak. Well no not exactly little. Dean couldn't ignore it anymore; no matter how many times he tried to convince himself he'd just been imagining things. His little step brother was definitely not as little as the first time they'd met. He'd been doing some growing lately. And boy was it annoying, especially since it seemed Dean hasn't even started his own growth spurt. Already Sam was an inch taller than Dean. He secretly hoped Sam was done, but deep down somewhere he knew it was a vain hope.

On the day before Christmas Eve, John held a family meeting by the fireplace. Sam grabbed the only rocking chair in the room, shamelessly eating a bag half full of marshmallows. Dean didn't even know they had marshmallows until he saw it in Sam's hands. Sam didn't even bother to share. He didn't even have the decency to look guilty under one of mom's withering looks when she caught him snacking before dinner. He just left the room to throw the bag away when he was done. Dean felt sorry he didn't get to have any marshmallows before Sam ate them all.

John had a family friend coming down for New Years. He was actually coming in town for some family business that John didn't delve into details about. By the looks John and mom shared, Dean knew it was one of those 'grown up' things, the things that if you ever pester adults about they'd just respond with that same, rehearsed, 'you'll understand when your older' shit. The only useful information they got from the meeting was that his name was Robert Singer, though dad called him Bobby.

Oh and that he liked to fish. Christmas Eve itself was a very boring day. Andy was back again, apparently not knowing the fact that holidays were usually meant to be spent as a family, and Andy was in no way family. Dean was inwardly grateful when Jimmy answered the door. He was invited inside. He'd never been inside Jimmy's house before, not really and it felt a little funny in a strange 'he's been in my house at least a dozen times already and this is my first time in his even though we're neighbors' kind of way.

It was also a little weird how quickly he'd been able to relax and make himself at home. As he sank into the couch and propped up his feet on the coffee table, flicking the TV on, he caught sight of Jimmy from the corner of his eye. Dean wouldn't ever forget the way Jimmy's smile lit his whole face like a Christmas tree making his eyes all bright and young and innocent.

"So what do you do for fun around here?" Dean asked a couple hours later.

Jimmy's smile turned into a smirk as he pointed to a cabinet full of DVDs and cassette tapes. Dean followed his gaze and felt his own lips curl into a grin, taking in all the classic movies. He promptly forgot about Sam and Andy and accidentally fell asleep curled up on the couch with Jimmy that night, classic 'Dracula' rolling all night.

* * *

John wasn't one for Christmas shopping. He usually left that the women; his wife, his sister, his niece, basically any female that currently shared the household with him. It just wasn't a male thing to do–shopping. Males played sports and worked long, late shifts and paid the bills and fished and hunted and did all the guys stuff. Shopping, not including the occasional need to go food shopping or 'fix the sink'–'fix the toilet'–'fix whatever' shopping, was strictly a woman's thing.

So he couldn't exactly believe Mary was able to convince him to get his ass out of bed and help her with the shopping list. It was a week before Christmas, as close to last minute shopping as Mary Campbell-Winchester would allow. She woke him up an hour before his alarm was set this morning–it had read six AM when he glanced over. He groaned and complained but one look from his wife had shut him up as he went through the morning routine (shower, brush teeth, shave, dress, grab coffee and eat breakfast) and then they were out the door and in the car by close to nine.

Now two hours later he found himself trapped in the mini mall with his mood swing pregnant wife looking at boys' clothes–at least they didn't look at socks yet–and pillows and other crap he couldn't make himself care about. They ended up buying Dean a pair of roller skates and Sam a new bicycle, picked out a baseball bat for both the boys because John was able to convince Mary that the 'cute' oversized stuffed bear was designed for daughters, not sons. No matter how cute the boys looked, they were still boys damn it.

He allowed Mary to pick out some sweaters in Christmas colors to make it up to her, because that a part of marriage–compromise. "As long as there aren't any socks," he mumbled as he followed her from one rack to another. Because people always hated getting socks for Christmas. Somehow it was lumped in with coal, that if someone gave you socks it meant you did something terrible all through life, which never made any sense to John because socks were practical, a necessity unlike videogames and junk food. But the look on Sam's face when John's brother gave him socks for Christmas nearly five years ago, the nonstop sobbing made John feel so shitty.

"Socks are practical though," Mary said matter-of-factly and John just wanted to hide his head in his hands and groan. In the end, though, he didn't have anything to worry about. They came back home with half a dozen bags filled to the brim with clothes and teenage sports equipment. John took all the bags up the stairs and hid them safely in the master bedroom.

It wasn't like he was all that worried about Sam peeking at the gifts early; he hasn't done that kind of thing since he was eight. But it was better to be safe than sorry.

Christmas Eve sucked. John felt like a lousy father. Back in November something had changed between the boys that John hasn't noticed until they started going back to acting like they hated each other earlier in the month of December. He was sure it had to do with the new boy named Jimmy Novak but whatever the kid actually did to drive a wedge between his boys was lost to John. Or maybe Novak didn't have anything to do with anything and this was just John's overly protective 'papa bear' coming out to play and causing paranoia where he wasn't sure he needed.

Still he couldn't help but feel something happened, and now that Sam was hanging out with Andy, it just made the feeling all the worse. Either way Dean asked to hang around with Jimmy today, which was unheard of. In the month that the Novaks came to live next to them, John was pretty sure no one has ever been inside their house before. Only Jimmy ever came by to work on homework in Dean's room.

It wasn't like John was worried that the Novaks had some terrible secret to hide or anything, in fact he was sure they were nice people. He only ever spoke to Christian and Elizabeth once–the first day they moved in John decided it was only polite to introduce themselves–and they seemed friendly and nice enough and their son was one swell kid.

Nah he wasn't worried, not really, that was why he told Dean, "Sure, go have fun", but then Dean didn't come back for the whole day. Andy had left at seven, right after dinner. Sam didn't say much. He kept looking at the empty seat at the table with a frown. John was sure his son was feeling lonely without his step brother.

John woke up on Christmas morning to the sound of the door bell. Grumbling, he looked over to the alarm clock on the nightstand. It read 5:42 AM. He groaned and rolled out of bed, being careful to not wake up Mary. Unfortunately his wife was a light sleeper and before he could fully slip out of bed, her hand shot out to cling tightly to his white undershirt he used as pajamas.

"What time is it?" she asked in a still-sleep filled voice.

"About twenty minutes 'til six," he grumbled, swatting the hand away. "Lemme get the door."

Mary moaned and rolled over to her side to face her husband, one hand wrapped around her pillow. "Come back to bed, hunny. It's probably just a salesperson; let them think we're not home, or God forbid, we're still _sleeping_."

John pulled on a pair of sweatpants on the floor with a tired sigh. "Too late for that, Mare. You know how I am–once I'm awake I can't get back to sleep, besides Sam's gonna be waking up soon anyway and lemme tell you right now, that kid's a monster on Christmas."

He heard Mary chuckle as he headed out the room. The rustling of blankets told him that he'd made his point clear. The door bell sounded again and John shuffled down to answer it. When he swung open the door he was surprised to see his other son in a larger man's chokehold, grin widening to bare white teeth as he took in John's tired, disheveled appearance.

"Ain't you a sight for sore eyes, Winchester," the man remarked, shifting Dean in a better grip as the boy wrestled to get out. "Got you a present think you might want back. Saw him out on the streets at such an ungodly hour. Said he was a Winchester."

"No, no I didn't say that! I'm not a Winchester damn it, I'm a Campbell," Dean spat, arms and legs flailing. "Always will be no matter what anyone says, and that includes him!"

John watched in astonishment as the man took a firmer grip on his son, eventually forcing Dean to still then fall limb, glaring at the ground, refusing to meet John's gaze. The man seemed satisfied and looked back at John thoughtfully. His smile had faltered when he'd been trying to get the teen to calm down but now that they were meeting each other's gazes again, the man's smile brightened.

"Now aren't you gonna invite your ol' friend in, maybe for a cup o' coffee or somethin'?"

Dry mouthed, John nodded and stepped aside so the man could come inside. Then he closed the door and beckoned them to the kitchen after Dean was released. He could hear Dean follow them like a petulant child. "Who the hell are you?" his son demanded once John made coffee for himself and the man.

"Didn't your daddy tell you anything, kid?" the man asked sitting down at the table and blowing his steaming coffee.

"If he did I wouldn't be asking now would I?"

John sighed sipping from his own mug. He knew exactly what was coming.

"Bobby Singer, the name's Bobby Singer."


	6. Names

Title**: ****Step-Brothers****: ****Blood Doesn't Tie Us**

Genres**: **Family / Friendship / Drama

Rating**: **T

Summary**: Sam didn't want a new mom or brother but couldn't deny his dad happiness. With drama and problems, the Winchesters must learn to get along. Sam/Dean later**

Warnings**: **Sam/Dean, Mary/John, het pairings, slash pairings, incest, cursing, Sam/others, Dean/others, homophobia, no hunting AU, family drama, epic length

* * *

SIX

Bobby Singer was one of John's friends, best friends. It was like Dean and Jimmy, or Sam and Andy. It felt surreal to Dean. Somehow he'd gotten it into his head that John didn't have friends, that mom didn't have friends, because adults just didn't have friends. It was a kid thing, a teenage thing, not a grown up thing. Grown ups had families, sons and daughters, wives and husbands, that was it. Anything else and well…it just wasn't possible. But it was. It was and the physical evidence was sitting right here drinking coffee and laughing at dad's ridiculous jokes and sharing inside sports info and talking about what he caught last time he went fishing.

"Now as much as I love that you came to see us early, Bobby, you don't mind if I ask what made you change your mind–because I was pretty sure you said you'd stop by on New Year's," John said leaning his chair back.

Bobby sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Oh trust me, Winchester, as much as I just love hanging out with you, you weren't the sole reason I came here. I just happened to be in the neighborhood this time and then saw this munchkin here." The pat on Dean's back was barely any more tolerable than dad's hair ruffling. Dean scowled openly.

John just frowned like that was the most absurd thing he heard all night, as if the thought that he wasn't the reason for his friend coming over here wasn't possible. "Well now you definitely got me intrigued. Why are you in Lawrence?"

There was a slight pause, then Bobby shrugged and sipped his coffee and then he was leaning back against his seat looking relaxed and at home. "Missouri," he said simply.

John sagged. There was another lapse in silence and Dean became bored and tired when he realized the men weren't going to say anymore, both looking somewhat thoughtful in the dim light, like they were back in some long lost memory that was beyond Dean's reach and understanding. Dean was sure they were. He trudged upstairs and went to sleep for a couple more hours in his room.

He woke up at nine to Sam's yell coming from downstairs. Mom was already dressed in an oversized blue shirt that looked suspiciously like John's, one that came straight from the collection he'd won from attending countless baseball games. She also wore one of his red striped boxers. Mary sat in the rocking chair by the Christmas tree, her legs crossed Indian style. Dad was sitting on the couch across the large flat screened TV, his head sagging to the side from exhaustion but he looked up at Dean with a lopsided grin as he waved him to come down and join everybody in opening presents.

Sam had just started, apparently too impatient for Dean to wake up. Bobby was also still here. Dean thought the man was going to go back to where ever he'd come from, Missouri perhaps. "C'mon, dude. This one's yours," Sam said, holding a present in the air. Dean's gaze shifted back to his brother.

He gulped down the nervousness as his eyes lingered on the box in Sam's hand. "Well? Don't you want your present?" Sam demanded when Dean continued to stay clutching the rails. "This one's from me. You better take it, man."

"Yeah hang on," Dean grumbled once he got his voice back. He stomped down the stairs and walked into the living room. His stomach felt twisted in knots as he snatched the box. The present jiggled. Frowning Dean gave it another shake. "The hell is in here?"

Sam just smiled brightly at him. "Just open it, dude. You'll love it, I promise."

Dean eyed his brother suspiciously. "Swear?"

"Swear."

He opened it. Inside was a necklace. He pulled it out and examined it closely. It was a small figurine of a dragon. It looked pretty cool and that surprised him, he'd been expecting some kind of lame toy you'd get from one of those game machines that cost a quarter to play. It felt heavy, like it was made of metal. The dragon had wings and a long tail and it looked mad as hell, like it was this close to making someone into charcoal. He grinned and put it around his neck, then looked inside the box again because he was pretty sure he'd caught a flash of something in the corner of his eye when he pulled the necklace out. There was a note attached to the bottom of the box. It read like a letter.

_Dear Dean,_

_I hope you like it. I know you have this weird obsession with dragons so yeah…I'll always love you, bro._

_Love,_

_Sammy_

Dean still kept the note somewhere in his desk drawer. Sam's present was probably the best that anyone gave him, and that included Jimmy's classic horror collection he'd sent to Dean the following day. He sort of wished he'd given Sam something equally as cool, but the problem was he didn't know what Sam liked. Dean ended up awkwardly handing Sam a homemade Christmas card and thirty dollars in an envelope, that way his brother could pick something out for himself at the mall.

Sam loved the card more than the money, which surprised the hell out of Dean. He laughed at Dean's attempt to draw a Santa and fat reindeers on some poor sap's house. Dean grinned for the rest of the day.

January came and went in a slow drag. During the month that Dean soon called "Hell Month", a lot happened that he could've done without. Bobby stayed until after New Year's. It wasn't all that eventful with the man here but it kept Dean busy while Sam had Andy over. Then they were back in school and first thing in the morning, as he was walking to homeroom, Maddie bumped into him and Dean remembered thinking, 'she'd seen better days.' Which was true, totally true.

Her eyes were red rimmed and puffy, like she'd spent most of the morning crying. Her hands shook as she clutched her purse to her chest. And Dean was speechless, frozen in spot as she uttered the words he didn't think he'd ever hear, "I don't want to see you again." The words of a breakup.

It was inevitable, nothing ever lasted forever. He was more than aware of that. He just thought he'd be the one to break it with her, not the other way around and after he got over the initial shock of it, he skipped denial altogether and went straight to, well, not anger but more worry, suspicion. Really, what was Madison's excuse for breaking it off with him? To not want to see Dean Winchester ever again?

His mind reeled with all sorts of reasons, thoughts and excuses. One that went to the forefront of his mind over and over again was what jolted him to go see Daniel right away. It was the beginning of January that crushed his sophomore year to pieces. Daniel was by his locker as usual. But what wasn't usual was the amount of students gathered around him. Sure he was popular, but he'd never been so popular as to attract not only seniors but _freshmen_ as well.

Dean saw Sam hanging in the back, his face turned to talk quietly with Neil Summers, Michael Kingsley and Andy Gallagher. Then there was a moment where time seemed to freeze and Sam caught Dean's eyes. His brother's expression was unreadable. Then the moment ended and Sam looked away again. Then Dean could hear Daniel talk.

Everyone knew Dean was a queer now. They didn't know about Daniel. Daniel told everyone that Dean asked him out, and then tried to force himself on him when Daniel said 'no'. Daniel betrayed Dean. He felt lower than dirt. It sucked.

* * *

One of the worst parts about January was finding out his brother's friend betrayed his brother and not being able to do anything about it. Andy didn't help either. He'd never been around the house when Daniel or Madison showed up. If he had he'd know for sure that Daniel Carter was a big fat liar. Sam didn't know what to do. Dean practically shut him out that whole month. He shut out everyone.

Neil said they should get dirt on Daniel and use it against him. Sam thought it was a good idea except for the fact that none of them ever thought to take pictures of Dean and Daniel's make out session. All they had were words.

"Who would listen to a bunch of sophomore outcasts anyway? Daniel is practically the king of the school," Mike said. As much as Sam hated Mike's matter-of-fact tone as he said those words, he was right.

Suffice to say, school was miserable for everyone.

February wasn't much better. His step brother might as well have been walking around with a billboard sign that said 'queers are backstabbing losers' or something to that effect with all the name-calling and ridicule he had to put up with on a daily basis. It was funny in a twisted way that Daniel was the 'queer that backstabbed people' but Sam didn't laugh. Inwardly he was just glad it wasn't happening to him. And that only twisted his gut more.

* * *

Adam. As the months progressed, Mary was thinking of baby names. John tried to help but he wasn't very good with names. At first he wanted to name the baby after him. Mary found it only slightly funny as her husband laid back on the bed in nothing but a bath robe, an undershirt and boxers. He waggled his eyebrows when he suggested it.

"You want to name him John?" Mary asked wryly.

John gave her his best shit-eating grin she often saw on the boys. She shook her head. "Aww come on, Mare. John is a strong and manly name."

"You would say that wouldn't you?" she couldn't help but tease, watching as his grin turned into a frown and looking at her with an expression that silently said 'what the hell's that supposed to mean?' She ignored it and continued over to the bed. "And what if said 'boy' turned out to be a girl? Can we name her Mary?"

It was meant as another joke but John broke into a loving smile and he said, "Of course, Mare, Mary's a sweet name." He looked so serious that Mary couldn't help but smile back.

But somehow Mary knew in her heart the baby was going to be a boy and the name was going to be 'Adam', not 'John' or 'Mary'. Adam. She wasn't sure how she knew this, why the name Adam struck such a chord within her, it just did.

* * *

It wasn't just Dean that had bad luck, apparently that just came with the territory with being a 'Campbell-Winchester'. The same months that Dean was forced to come out of the 'closet' were also a walking nightmare for Sam for totally different reasons. After trying to find ways of getting Daniel to admit to the school he'd outright lied and betrayed his 'boyfriend' and failing miserably to produce any physical evidence, Sam never really noticed Andy…until he asked.

"Sam," he'd said his name calmly and Sam braced himself for a serious conversation. "We've been 'going out' for almost a month now. Have you ever done it with a guy before?"

Sam nearly choked on his milk. He spent five whole minutes trying to gather himself back together with Andy watching quietly in amusement. Andy seemed to have this creepy thing for seeing Sam embarrassed, or caught off-guard. "Dude, seriously? Have I ever done 'it' with a guy, like have sex?"

"Uhm, yeah, or like, uh, made out or something," Andy said.

They'd been together since December, before winter break. But all they'd really done was share a kiss here and there, hold hands under the table, cuddle up next to each other on the couch and shared looks. That was it. He wasn't even sure his and Andy's relationship even qualified as 'going out'. "Uhm no, never," Sam said, opted for the truth.

Sadly it was true. Andy was the first person he'd ever kissed and they'd never gone further than that, though he wasn't the first crush Sam had. Not by a long shot.

"OK, then, uh, do you want to?"

The question had Sam frozen in his seat. Did he want to what? Make out? Have sex? With Andy? He wasn't sure.

"It's OK. You don't have to tell me the answer now. I can wait." Andy had smiled brilliantly and Sam believed him.

He found out a few days later that Andy wasn't as patient as he said he was. He caught snippets of the conversation on his way to lunch, hoping to find Mike by his locker waiting as usual for him. Mike wasn't there. Andy was. And he had a lot more friends than Sam. Andy was laughing, throwing his hand around a girl like they were best pals. Sam's stomach was in knots at the sight.

"And you know the best part?" Andy was saying.

The girl shook her head, snickering. There was a boy hovering behind Andy waiting to hear the rest of the story. "Well, what was it?" the girl demanded.

"Calm down, I'm the storyteller here, remember? Anyways, I asked him if he ever done it, and of course the answer was 'no' so I asked if he _wanted_ to do it, and man, you should've seen his face. I'm still waiting on the answer but with the way he looked, I'm pretty sure I already know the answer," Andy said smugly.

The girl laughed and the boy grinned. Sam realized half way through Andy was talking about him, about their conversation the other day. He saw red, positively fuming. Without waiting to hear their responses, Sam stalked into the cafeteria. He sat alone by the wall until the bell rang.

It got worse. Sam managed to avoid Andy for a week before Andy confronted him by his locker after school was released. Sam slammed the locker shut as Andy grabbed him by his collar.

"Get off, Andy. What the hell?"

"What do you mean 'what the hell'? I should be asking you that," Andy said as Sam shoved him off. "What's wrong with you, man? Why have you been avoiding me this week?"

"I don't have to answer you," Sam snarled and started stomping away. "And besides you already know why."

Andy stood stunned for a moment before jogging to catch up. He stepped in Sam's way, trying to look intimidating but Sam was taller. "What do you mean 'I already know'? What the hell do you think I know?" he demanded.

"I heard you talking last week."

"About what?" Still not comprehending, Andy stood like a statue. Then Sam started to laugh, like he'd just heard the funniest joke, which in a way he had. "What? What's so funny?"

"You," Sam said simply. He moved past Andy, only pausing at the door to say, "I never realized how much you liked to share stuff about our relationship to your friends."

He didn't hear any more from Andy until a month later in February.

It was cold and rainy on a Friday and Sam couldn't wait to get home. He was still trying to find ways to help Dean. But Dean didn't want any help. He pushed Sam away. He always sat in the back looking out the window with this expression Sam couldn't decipher. It sucked hard and every time Sam looked back there, his heart clenched tight in his chest. No one ever forgot how Dean 'betrayed' Daniel and Sam found the urge to scream that it wasn't his brother's fault harder and harder to resist. But screaming the truth to a bunch of ignorant people would cause more harm than good. At least that was what Sam told himself.

Sometimes he felt like a coward. He didn't want to be lumped in with his brother and labeled as a backstabber. He didn't want the teasing, the bullying, he didn't want any of it. And he knew it wasn't any of Dean's fault. He was the victim here. Daniel was the bully. And so was everyone else.

Sam was by his locker again. He had Trig homework sadly and had just zipped up his bag after dumping the textbook in. Someone came up from behind him and Sam didn't have the chance to even wonder what was happening. There was a cloth covering his mouth and nose and suddenly he felt himself pitching over and then there was blackness.

Sam came to in his bed. The clock read 8:22 PM. He blinked and tried to recall what happened. The last thing he remembered was getting his Trig book from his locker, then nothing but endless darkness. A shudder wracked through him. He tried to sit up but somehow his whole body ached. He frowned knowing this was far from normal, slumping back on his pillow somewhat reluctantly.

* * *

John hated feeling helpless. He felt helpless during Mary's pregnancy, even when talking about names he found he wasn't any good. They finally settled on the boy's name, Adam and if somehow it turned out to be a girl, Elizabeth, because they both agreed that the shortened version 'Liz' was adorable.

Dean wouldn't tell John or Mary what was wrong. John figured it was just a teenage mood swing but one look to Sam and John had the sneaking suspicion it was deeper than that and his son knew what the problem was. Sam didn't share whether he knew it or not though.

John wished that was all the problems. But of course you're not a real Winchester if you weren't riddled with them. Sam had troubles too, deep troubles. 'It' happened in February. No one saw it coming. It was Friday, nearing the end of the month. Rainy and dreary outside, just a disaster waiting to happen really.

Sam didn't come home with Dean on the bus like he normally did. Dean had shrugged it off when John confronted the teenager, saying that Sam was probably staying back for something, no big deal, no need to take things way out of proportions. John let it go, thinking maybe Dean had a point. Only in the back of his mind he knew he was deluding himself. Sam only ever stayed after a few times in his entire life and he called each and every time beforehand. This was different. And John knew it.

When it was past six and then past dinner, everyone knew something was wrong. John called Neil and Mike to make sure though. And then he tried Andy. Andy's phone went straight to voicemail and for some reason John felt a chill on his spine. He grabbed the car and made his way to the high school.


End file.
